Littoral Combat Ship counter piracy mission

[fgentges at mindspring.com]

Tacoistas,

As the piracy problems grow, the US Navy is bringing their Littoral 
Combat Ship prototypes into service.  If only they had been authorized 
to build additional ones.

Shipbuilding is a time consuming effort and getting ships out to the 
fleet when you need them requires a vision of the future that is often 
lacking.

In my office on one day in the mid '90s we discussed piracy and how the 
Navy might respond. The LCS program was a product of many such needs 
with piracy well down the list as we just did not anticipate the problem 
we see today.  After all, how could reasonable men foresee how a "Bass 
Tracker" class boat could take over a ship like the Maersk Alabama.

Anyway, the USS Freedom and USS Independence are going into service.  See

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518974,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Freedom_(LCS-1)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Independence_(LCS-2)

Look at the pictures in the Wiki.  These are both stealthy ships, with 
faceted surfaces like the F-117 and are more  mission capable platforms 
than the ultimate stealth sea platform Sea Shadow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Shadow_(IX-529)

Frank K0BRA